As the brakes locked up and the car skidded to a halt in the middle of the industrial park, Lem kicked the parking brake in before sliding out of the still glass covered seat. Running up to the rumbling classic Pontiac was his technical assistant, Jim. With a pat on the shoulder he jokingly shoved the similarly aged mechanic into the car as he exited.

"Hey, once you drop this off at the shop spool up the performance truck."

Riding up the lift cable toward the cockpit, Lem looked down as Jim called up toward him.

"You planning on running more live fire tests on this thing?"

Lem just chuckled.

"Hey, if the tune actually does show promise I think the Imperials may just want this one more than the 3.1."

"True that, what range.."

"5 miles out. Should be able to get a good reading on the tests should they have something stashed out there. Cool?"

"Yep.."

With the exit of the Trans Am, the Gelgoog fired it's thrusters and made a jet assisted jump toward the escaping Samson hover 'cab'.

[The Bone Rangers]The Samson had hit the open desert, and was going at full speed across the dunes. The hover propulsion system kicked up more dust then one would think creating an intense sandstorm. Scooter glanced at the rearview mirror, he couldn't see anything with all the sand out there. Hopefully Hud and Benito were able to find the Zaku's they had hidden in the sand dunes, because Scooter was pretty much defenceless if any of Las Vega's mobile suits decided to intervene on their escape.

After flinging the door of the Samson's cab open, Hud hit the ground running... Well, Hud hit the ground.

His attempt to tuck and roll was an A+ for effort, but the sheer speed at which the cab was hovering across the sand caused him to bounce to a stop. After traveling an impressive distance like a magical swearing tumbleweed, once he came to rest he groaned and dragged himself upright.

His eyes shot left and right as he looked for the landmark he had spotted when Scooter had practically shoved him from the moving truck. There! An area of scrub next to a small washout with a distinctive pile of rocks... Swatting sand and dust off of his body, he jogged towards the largest dune next to the formation and found the found the loose cairn there that marked the exact spot he was searching for.

Tossing away the piled stones, he kicked and scooped sand away with his hands to get at the metal hatch buried there. They were being chased, and every moment counted. After fifteen seconds or so of grunting and swearing he had cleared away enough space to open the hatch and wriggle his way inside.

GWOOON~

The Zaku II's monoeye lit up as a huge, tan hand rose up from beneath the desert floor sending sand flowing and rocks tumbling. The arm was followed by a massive torso and head as the MS sat up from where it had been nearly totally buried in the sand. It began to stand as Hud fiddled with the controls, slapping at a monitor that didn't immediately turn on.

Once it was upright, Hud stomped towards the washout and picked up equipment that had been stashed there - a massive MS-scale gunbelt, a knuckle shield and a 90mm machine gun. With his suit now armed, Brody took a moment to roll and light up a cigarette. Now where had their Samson gotten to? The Zaku II Kai stepped into a sort of wide-legged skating motion and took off across the desert after Scooter, its Dom-like hover jets engaged to give it extra speed.